Pawprints, Strangers and National Secrets
by Sapphire363
Summary: A polar bear cub stolen from a research facility, a mysterious man who can bypass seemingly any security and the team of young superheroes tasked with tracking them down. It all started when a bear went missing, and America found it. Also posted on AO3
1. Prologue

To say the very least, Robin wasn't happy.

If the mysterious theft of a polar bear cub from a research facility in Washington DC wasn't enough, he had easily enough evidence, from security cameras and the like, to find the man who had perpetrated the crime, under normal circumstances at least. Heck, Batman had given him the task as a simple training exercise, to get the Team's help with if necessary.

He had assumed, at first that he would easily solve this on his own, and, by all accounts, he should have. He started off running his face and description through various criminal and metahuman databases, along with the list of abilities that he could glean from the video footage he had found, and came up empty handed.

He ran the same search, minus the list of abilities, maybe he wasn't a metahuman, had some kind of tech instead, and again, came up blank. After hours of fruitless searching he gave up and ran a picture of the mystery man's face through a facial recognition search, no filters.

What he found was… intriguing to say the least. Old photographs, obviously World War Two era, of American bomber pilots, standing proudly in front of their planes, and there he was, standing proudly in that same bomber jacket, though it was a lot newer in the photo than it was in the footage of him breaking into that facility. He was wearing an American air force uniform, probably that of a low-ranking officer if memory served, rather than the jeans and button-down shirt combo he was wearing in the footage. There it was again. The man's face.

This image depicted the man with a million-watt grin that made him feel safe, protected. He shook the feeling away, frowning more deeply, that was the other thing about this stranger, he felt like he wasn't one, that he was a friend, someone that he could trust. This man reminded Robin of the home he had found in Gotham, in America. His friends, Bruce, Alfred, he felt that this man, this… Unknown entity, for he did seem to display powers that seemed other than human, should be a confidant, a friend that he trusts with his life, as much as his team and adoptive father, if not more so.

He glared at the screen, before deciding that it was time to call in the team. He saved the photograph, along with another photo of the man with another man in a British army uniform who had the most ridiculous eyebrows Robin had ever seen, onto the portable hard drive he was collecting all the data he had on the man on, and decided to call it a night.


	2. Chapter 1

**This chapter is heavily based on "Pawprints" By Silvermoonphantom over on AO3. Sorry it took so long but life happened and I have too many story ideas, I even started an entirely original story, but haven't posted it at all. Enjoy!**

A few days later, Robin had the Team gathered around the huge computer screens in the Cave, explaining the situation to them.

"So, what you're telling us is that you, oh great protégée of the Batman, hacker and ninja extraordinaire, you who can find anyone in a matter of minutes, couldn't figure out who this guy is, and you expect us to do better?" Kid Flash half-mocked, slightly incredulous. Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask.  
"No, I haven't found him yet, and I expect you to look over the footage and help me get a fresh perspective and more ideas on who, or what, this guy might be,"  
"Or what?" Superboy queried,  
"He demonstrated abilities that mark him out as either a metahuman, not human, or possessing technology that allows him to gain said abilities." Robin elaborated, before continuing, "and there was something else, before we review the footage I'll give you some more background, but before that, I have a close up of the guy's face, tell me what you think when you see him, I want to confirm something." The team of young superheroes crowded around as the face of a young man, late teens or very early twenties at the oldest, filled the screen. He had wheat-blonde hair with an odd cowlick that one would think impossible to occur in a human's hair, clear, sky-blue eyes framed by rectangular, wire-framed glasses, and a slight smirk on his face, looking like it could break into an all-out grin at any moment. He was wearing an old, well-worn, but clearly well looked after, World War Two bomber jacket over a red button-up shirt. Everyone in the room couldn't help but smile at him, before frowning curiously as they thought over the trust they felt for a man they had never met before, a man they had no reason to trust. Wally, ever the impulsive one, spoke first.

"That's freaky. Like, I feel like I've met him a hundred times, like he should be my best friend or something, but I can't think of his name, or any time we met. Super weird." The others nodded slightly, agreeing with the speedster.  
"Surprisingly eloquent description of the feeling," Aqualad commented, causing Wally to shoot him a glare, "though I do believe I have experienced a similar sensation before, though it was… stronger in a way."

"When?" Robin asked, interested to see if this would give him a clue to the identity of the man,  
"In Atlantis," Aqualad said, "There was a young woman, one of my people, of course, but I instantly felt a kind of trust and comradeship with her, despite never having seen her before in my life, she was speaking with my king, but left shortly after I arrived. When I asked my king her identity, he simply said that she was an advisor and a very old friend, though I have not seen her since and I had never seen her before that day."  
"Did you have a crush?" Kid Flash teased, trying to get a rise out of Aqualad and earning himself a whack in the back of the head from Artemis,  
"No, as I said, it was similar to the feeling of trust I have with this man, despite not knowing him at all," Aqualad, calm as ever, did not respond to the jibe.  
"He reminds me of all of the friends I've made since coming to Earth," M'gann commented, floating slightly above their heads to give the others more room in front of the large computer screens. Robin hummed slightly, acknowledging the comment, and turned back to the screen. He brought up security footage, spread over several different angles, of the lobby of a laboratory in Washington DC,  
"Just watch the footage, tell me what you think," He said, hitting a key on his wrist computer that started the feed.

The footage started. A figure appeared at the doors, pushing them open casually, it was the man from the photograph they had been shown. No-one in the lobby seemed to notice him as he made his way to the labs fingerprint scanner, standing in front of them with a slight slouch and an almost bored expression on his face, one hand scratching the back of his head, the other placed on the smooth face of the scanner. The scanner was quick to identify him as one of the doctors and allow him to pass through the doors, that opened for him smoothly. He made his way efficiently through the building, the camera angles on the screen changing as appropriate, bypassing other security measures equally casually, including, but not limited to, number codes, password locks and retina scans, Wally let out a low whistle at the sheer amount of security the building contained, as Robin kept up a running commentary about the specifics of the security measures, why the man shouldn't be able to bypass them, even if he had some sort of meta-human ability or high-tech tool, and the fact that this man was on no records at the lab, none of the doctors knew him, and he didn't look anything like any of the doctors the scanners recognised him as.

Suddenly, Robin cut everyone off, pausing the video, ultimately silencing the discussions on who, or what, this man could possibly be.  
"This bit is the bit that concerns me the most," Robin said, signalling for everyone to pay attention as he cranked up the volume and pressed a key, starting the footage rolling again.

The man was walking with more purpose now, striding quickly as opposed to the easy stroll he had been using when bypassing security in the rest of the building. He was in a room lined with lights and shelves, though he ignored all of the experiments and equipment on these, striding straight for a door in the corner, which led to a domed enclosure. He placed his hand on the scanner at the entrance, and, as the door opened and welcomed him with a, "Welcome, President sakdlbalskkssshhhhhh…" a terrifying look of pure rage flickered across his face. It was gone as soon as it came, but it was enough to send a shiver up their spines. They hardly noticed that the computerized voice had been cut off with the feed from the scanner camera as the man had pressed his hand down with terrifying ease and crushed the entire contraption. They snapped back to attention as a soft animal cry sounded in the background and the scene changed.  
"What.…" Aqualad's question was cut off as Robin shook his head, gesturing to the screen. The enclosure was modelled after an Arctic scene, false ice-caps bobbing in blue-tinted water that became deeper as the gentle slope of the floor progressed. Two of the cameras appeared to be motion sensitive, locking onto the man and tracking his movements smoothly, the third was a stationary view from the very top of the dome. The man let out a sharp whistle, before calling out,  
"Hey! Nanuq! You here little dude?" The animal cry, louder now, sounded again, and a small, white animal came bounding over one of the ice-caps, leaping from cap to cap, leaving them rocking in its wake. As the creature neared the edge of the water, it slipped in, keeping its head above water as it paddled expertly to the man, who went down on one knee and dug around in an inner pocket of his jacket as it got closer. As the animal got out of the water and shook itself off, the team was able to identify it as a polar bear cub. The man stopped digging in his pockets and held out his hand to the animal, sitting down as he did so, he started speaking to it,  
"I finally found you, man. You okay? They didn't hurt you?" Wally snorted,  
"Why is he talking to a…" He was cut off as the bear opened its mouth, and a childlike voice rang through the enclosure, leaving most of the team shocked,  
"Who're you?" The man smiled, opened his mouth to say something, before looking around at the cameras, seemingly considering his answer, finally, he opened his hand, revealing a bottle of amber liquid… no, syrup, their assessment changes as the bottle was rocked and the substance's consistency was revealed, with a bright red and white label.  
"I'm Mattie's brother, remember?" The bear gasped and leapt forward as soon as the bottle was offered, grabbing it with its front paws and opening the flip-top easily with its mouth, slurping hungrily as it settled in the man's lap. The man laughed, grin threatening to split his head in two, not seeming to mind as his clothes became soaked by the still-wet cub's fur.  
"Did they even feed you, buddy?" The man asked as the bear, Nanuq evidently, finished the bottle, licking the top for a moment before abandoning it on the ground, it licked its lips,  
"They did, I hate frozen fish," It said, earning another laugh from the man,  
"Dude, you're seriously spoiled, you know that, right?" he retrieved the empty bottle, tucking it back into an inside pocket of his old jacket, pushing the small bear away a little when it tried to sniff and paw at the inside of his jacket, evidently searching for more.  
"I'm hungry," It said, and the man picked up the bear in both arms and stood up in one fluid motion, as though the animal weighed nothing at all,  
"Then let's get you home, Matthew's been frantic since you disappeared during that meeting, I'll Hop back with you as soon as we get to my boss's place, sound good?" The bear made a sad little noise in the back of its throat,  
"I'm lonely," It said, putting its nose in its paws, which were hanging over the man's arm.  
"Do you think they deserve to have their stuff trashed?" He asked the bear,  
"I want to go home," Was all it said, and the man smiled sadly and walked out the door.

Robin stopped the feed,  
"The rest of the footage is just him walking through hallways and bypassing security in the same way he came in, when he passed people, they didn't seem to notice him or the bear, and security cameras on the outside of the building show him getting on a bus and leaving, I've already traced the bus routes"  
"Have you any idea on where he went?" Aqualad asked,  
"I'm couldn't find any camera feed of him getting off, but that doesn't mean anything, a lot of the bus stops didn't have any cameras watching them." Robin frowned in frustration, "We're at square one, as far as tracing him is concerned. But I did find something interesting, when I was looking for who he is." He tapped at his holo-computer again, and a series of photos popped up. "Look here," he said, zooming in on a face in the photographs, the old, World War 2 era photographs. There he was, looking exactly the same, grinning proudly among the other pilots. Wally whistled,  
"Well, whatever he is, he ain't human," He said with finality.


	3. Chapter 2

**And we start with the entirely original content! Lets get going!** **(Just a warning, one very, very minor bad language word in this one, just sayin')**

Someone was looking for him. That, he knew with utmost certainty. One or two of his people, along with some others, who were not originally his, were trying to find him. He knew who they were. The, aptly and concisely named, Team. He wanted, more than anything else, to just Hop there and introduce himself, stop them from looking that way, but, of course, there were more than a few regulations to stop that happening. He was already being pestered enough by his government, as were many Nations around the world, to give up the identities of their beloved heroes. Every Nation had agreed wholeheartedly that there were a few things they would never tell their Bosses, and the identities of the Justice League and other independent heroes were a few of them.

Canada just _had_ to let Nanuq out of his sight for even a moment, hadn't he.

Nanuq, the stupid bear, had decided to wander off in the middle of a meeting in Washington DC, which Alfred was hosting, of course. The bear had, somehow, managed to get out of the building and into the streets, where he had promptly gotten himself lost, then an unfortunate series of events involving the bear _talking_ had led him to being contained in a research facility. Of course, the Nations couldn't let this happen, Nanuq was affected by living with a Nation for so long, they couldn't let him be experimented on in a research lab. Canada was frantic, so America took things into his own hands and got Nanuq out of there.

It was ridiculous! They had enough trouble keeping Batman off their backs when he had never seen any of them before. Now? It would be nigh impossible!

He felt eyes on him. The feeling of being watched prickling on his neck.

That wasn't right.

Nations had a peculiar way of not being noticed, as it would be quite obvious that they weren't quite human if one did. Though, he supposed, if someone knew what they were looking for, they would probably find them easily.

He looked around, none of the people in the area were watching him, so that left…

Shit.

Security cameras, of course.

Batman and Robin were both tech experts, so it would make sense that the Romani boy (Romania loved pointing out that one of his precious heroes was originally one of his) would set up an alert system and hack all the security cameras in DC he felt would get him the best results. He wouldn't be surprised if the security cameras around the White House were being monitored too.

God _dammit_.

This was Canada's fault, he should move there until this all blows over.

Except it won't, not for a long while anyways.

These kids, the Team, America knew that they were desperate to prove themselves.

They also believe he is a threat, as they have no record of him, and they are fairly certain he's not human.

This is why none of the Nations use their official human names on social media.

America sighed. He was going to need to get help on this one. He pulled out his phone.  
 _'now the only question is, who do I call about this, and who, other than Canada, will be the least pissed at me,'_ He thought ruefully as he scrolled through his contacts.

…

Robin was bored.

After setting up the program that would alert him if the mystery man turned up in Washington, and hooking it up to most of the external security cameras in the city, he had little else to do but wait for a ping.

He had started off doing more research into the alien? Metahuman? Something else? But, after coming up empty handed in the most infuriatingly consistent way possible, he resorted to hacking government websites for fun.

It only took a few hours of waiting for an alert to bring his attention to a man, _the_ man, walking down a busy street, pushing his way through crowds of tourists and locals with, seemingly, little effort.

 _'We got a ping!'_ He called to M'gann mentally, who relayed the message to the rest of the team, who were scattered around the mountain. In half a second, Wally was peering over his shoulder at the footage, and it only took a minute or so longer for the rest of the team to get there.

By this time, the man in the bomber jacket had stopped, stock still, in the middle of the sidewalk, and was glancing around, seemingly looking for something. The Team took in a sharp breath when he frowned, turned, and glared directly into the camera. His sky blue eyes, glinting behind rectangular, wire-framed glasses, seemed to be boring into them in that moment, it seemed impossible that he couldn't see them. Those eyes seemed so, so old, holding within them years of history… Then he shook his head, pulling out his mobile phone and unlocking it, and the spell was broken.

As the blonde-haired man selected something on the screen and put the mobile to his ear, Robin cursed the fact that security cameras didn't record sound. The man on-screen had turned away from the camera, so the Boy Wonder wasn't able to read his lips. After about thirty seconds, the man pulled the phone away from his ear, wincing as he did so, as if the person on the other end was shouting at him. He put the phone back to his ear, and, the camera seemingly forgotten, turned slightly so Robin could see his face, and thus, read his lips,  
 _'You done?'_ Pause _'Well it's not_ my _fault, if Mattie had kept a better eye on his bear during the meeting we wouldn't be in this mess'_ Pause _'Yeah, I'll hop over now, they have the team on my tail, so I gotta be careful… Why can't we just tell them again?'_ Pause _'Yeah, yeah, I'll get Mattie on the way, see ya dude,'_ He hung up, stuffing the phone in his pocket. He looked around for a few seconds, before ducking into a nearby alleyway, out of sight of the camera.

Robin stopped the feed, leaving his program running so that it would ping and record any instance of the man in DC.

"What's the matter Rob?" Wally looked concerned at his friend's expression. Robin swallowed, trying to make sense of the half-conversation he had just witnessed. He looked at the rest of the Team.

"We might have a problem,"


	4. Chapter 3

"Soo, why aren't we calling in the Justice League?" Kid Flash was sitting, lying really, upside down on the couch in the mountain's common room, "'Cause it's been almost three days, and all we've been doing is trying to track down non-existent intel and wait for a ping on that system of yours. It seems to me like this is serious enough to call the League, what if they know our identities! They could know the identities of the Justice League, hell, we don't even know who, or what, 'they' are!" His voice got louder and more agitated as he continued, speeding up to the point where the speedster was running words together in the ears of his team-mates.  
"That's the point, Wally." Robin reassured, from his, more upright, position perched next to the redhead on the arm of the couch. "We should confirm our suspicions, at least partly, so that we are more informed as to who these people are, and what they want! If we just go running to the Justice League now, at the first sign of trouble, of the unknown, we are not proving that we are capable of being a team that is separate from, and independent to, the Justice League. Batman assigned me, and the rest of us, this mission, and if it gets too hot to handle we'll call in backup, but we need to at least _try_ to solve this ourselves first."

"Speaking of this mission, it's been almost a day now. He can't of left that alley without your cameras picking him up, right?" Artemis spoke up from where she had been checking her arrows and bow, ensuring that everything was in proper order, "He can't have stayed there all day, could he?" The white lenses of Robin's mask narrowed as he frowned,  
"I know, I was worried about that. I was hoping that he didn't, but it seems that he has an ability to teleport, or some tech that allows him to do so." Robin rubbed his eyes, "The problem is, it is impossible to monitor every single camera in America, let alone the world, it's just not reasonable. I'm going to set up the system to monitor major cities in America, and even that's pushing it. Let's just hope to hell that he isn't somewhere remote, or outside the country altogether." Aqualad, who had been sitting on an armchair reading, looked up,  
"There is also the issue that he seemed to know that he was being watched, and he knew how we were watching him, and who we were too." Robin nodded his agreement,  
"I noticed that too, I was going to record the next ping, and watch it later, see if we can find a loophole in that particular ability." As he spoke, a notification popped up on his holo-screen. He glanced at it, grin growing on his face.  
"What is it?" Wally asked, attempting to manoeuvre himself upright.  
"We got a ping," Robin checked the location, "New York." He looked to Kaldur, who nodded.

"And now, we wait."

…

America was concerned.

He was waiting for some other nations to turn up, to discuss the 'Team problem'. He knew England and Canada would be there, Alfred knew that, largely (aka. Unless France or himself were involved, in the case of England), his brothers were a lot more level-headed than a lot of other nations. He was pretty sure Romania would insist on coming too, because of Robin, and both Atlantis and Themyscira would be here. They each knew a member of the Justice League personally, so they could be fundamental in getting the Team off his back.

He felt, rather than saw, Mattie and Artie Hop into an alley behind a nearby building, Romania not long behind. He stood up and grinned at them, waving, as they came around the side.  
"Hey guys! Do you know how much longer Mena and Naiya will be?" He shouted, not waiting for them to approach.  
"Alfred is shouting really necessary? This whole mess is giving me enough of a headache to last into the next century." The short Englishman, dressed in a button-down shirt and a sweater vest (Alfred made a mental note to mock him about this later), rubbed at his temple before pulling a hand through his, already messy, hair. "I do believe they'll be here any minute, Philomena informed me that she was going to speak with Diana about this whole mess, and I am led to believe that Naiya'al was to do much the same with her king. Their rules are so much looser than ours, hopefully we'll earn some sympathy that way, though having them pull the Team off our backs without making Batman suspicious may be a little too much, I suspect." Noticing America looking in the direction that they had just come from, England, Canada and Romania turned, just in time to see a tall, warlike woman with bronze-coloured hair approaching, clad in Themysciran garb, followed closely by a shorter woman, only just taller than England, in rich Atlantean dress, the fabric flowing and wafting like she was still underwater.  
"Philomena! Good to see you!" England cried, grasping forearms with the taller of the two women in a firm handshake.  
"You as well Arthur! It has been a while since I last entered Man's world. It has been too long, my friend." The smile dropped off her face and her brow furrowed. "I am afraid that Diana and I could not think of anything that could help with your dilemma without being too obtrusive, particularly in the eyes of the Batman. His paranoia, and the fact that Diana has no real connection with the Team mean that she has no real power to call of their investigation." Themyscira sighed, shaking her head. "This issue is so much more complicated here. In my land, my identity is no secret. I am truly sorry that I cannot offer further assistance." The blond-haired nation shook his head, anticipating this response,  
"No, it's perfectly alright Mena, I'm sure we all anticipated something to this effect." The other male nations in the group nodded their agreement, America glancing hopefully towards Atlantis,  
"Did you have any more luck Naiya?" The question prompted a rueful smile from Naiya'al,  
"I apologise, my identity is not common knowledge among my people. If it was, perhaps this would be more simple, as a member of the Team would know of our kind, as it is, however, my King does not have enough influence in what missions the Team partake in, so he has no input as to what we can do to help reduce fallout from this incident. At this point in time, the best course of action is the one that we already discussed,"  
"Keep having conversations in public areas and hope that they find us, explain everything to them and swear them to secrecy, then deal with our governments in the usual manner, by telling them exactly what we want to? Great plan, that, real secure. No potential for that to blow up in our faces." Romania spoke up for the first time, "All of us are hundreds of years old, surely there is a better plan than that. Robin's a genius, we could at least give him some credit and be a little more subtle."  
"This 'plan' pains me to no end too, Vladimir. If someone," England shot a pointed look at America, "Had waited a little and given me Nanuq's location, I would have been able to get him out with far less fuss than publicly breaking in to a private facility, and, more importantly, without being seen." His voice had become steadily louder and more enunciated throughout the speech until England was practically spitting the words into America's face.

"Mattie was worried sick. I wasn't gonna leave Nanuq there for a second longer than I had to." America's voice was low and dangerous. England opened his mouth, ready to retort, Canada's quiet, "Guys, please." lost to their ears, but before the situation could develop into a shouting match between the brothers, Themiscyra grabbed America by the shirt collar, yanking the superpower backwards, and Romania stepped between them.  
"I think that's enough. We should go. Al, send an email out if there are any more developments." England huffed, turning and Hopping away on the spot, regardless of any cameras. Themiscyra released Alfred, and did the same, waving farewell as she went. Atlantis and Romania followed her example, leaving America and Canada on the street.  
"Hey, Mattie, can I hang at your place for a bit?" America asked, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head, prompting Canada to roll his eyes.  
"Sure," He said quietly, and the two of them Hopped away.


End file.
